(B.) The Raffles.
Every article of convenience, every trinket of luxury, is transferred by this uncertain, quick mode of conveyance. Not a shop without its rattle-trap,—rattle, rattle, rattle, morning and evening. Here may be seen,—walk in and see,—an abridgement of the wisdom of this world;—the pomps and vanities are at large, varying like yonder evanescent clouds. Observe the fond parent initiating her forward offspring in the use of the dice-box, and herself setting the example; yet may she wonder, at some future day, and think her throw in life’s raffle extremely severe, that a propensity to that and similar habits should continue and increase.
THE GORDON NO-POPERY RIOTS (1780).
Source.—Letters of Horace Walpole.
To Rev. William Cole, Strawberry Hill, June 15, 1780.
You may like to know one is alive, dear sir, after a massacre and the conflagration of a capital. I was in it, both on the Friday, and on the Black Wednesday; the most horrible sight I ever beheld, and which, for six hours together, I expected to end in half the town being reduced to ashes. I can give you little account of the original of this shocking affair; negligence was certainly its nurse, and religion only its godmother. The ostensible author is in the Tower. Twelve or fourteen thousand men have quelled all tumults; and as no bad account is come from the country, except for a moment at Bath, and as eight days have passed—nay, more, since the commencement—I flatter myself the whole nation is shocked at the scene; and that, if plan there was, it was laid only in and for the metropolis. The lowest and most villainous people, and to no great amount, were almost the sole actors.
I hope your electioneering riotry has not, nor will mix in these tumults. It would be most absurd; for lord Rockingham, the duke of Richmond, Sir George Saville, and Mr. Burke, the patrons of toleration, were devoted to destruction as much as the ministers. The rails torn from Sir George’s house were the chief weapons and instruments of the mob. For the honour of the nation I should be glad to have it proved that the French were the engineers. You and I have lived too long for comfort—shall we close our eyes in peace? I will not trouble you more about the arms I sent you: I should like that they were those of the family of Boleyn; and since I cannot be sure they were not, why should not I fancy them so? I revert to the prayer for peace. You and I, that can amuse ourselves with our books and papers, feel as much indignation at the turbulent as they have scorn for us. It is hard at least that they who disturb nobody can have no asylum in which to pursue their innoxious indolence! Who is secure against Jack Straw and a whirlwind? How I abominate Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, who routed the poor Otaheitans out of the centre of the ocean, and carried our abominable passions amongst them! not even that poor little speck could escape European restlessness. Well, I have seen many tempestuous scenes, and outlived them! the present prospect is too thick to see through—it is well hope never forsakes us. Adieu!
Yours most sincerely.
SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS (1781).
Source.—Gentleman’s Magazine. Vol. li., p. 539.
Whitehall.—By Sir H. Clinton’s letter to Lord G. Germaine, dated off Chesapeak, October 29, and brought by the Rattlesnake sloop, capt. Melcombe, it appears that “the fleet and army, which sailed from the Hook on the 19th, arrived off Cape Charles on the 24th, when they had the mortification to hear that lord Cornwallis had proposed terms of capitulation to the enemy on the 18th. This intelligence was brought by the pilot of the Charon, and some other persons who came off from the shore, and said they had made their escape from York on the 18th, and had not heard any firing there since the day before. The Nymph frigate also arriving from New-York, says the General, brought me a letter from his lordship, dated the 15th, the desponding tenor of which gives me the most alarming apprehensions of its truth.
Since then we have been plying off the Capes, with variable and hard gales of wind, to the present hour, without being able to procure any further information, except from two men taken in a Canoe, whose report exactly corresponds with the former.
Comparing, therefore, the intelligence given by those people, and several others since come in, with the purport of lord Cornwallis’s letter, a copy of which I have the honour to inclose for your lordship’s information; we cannot entertain the least doubt of his lordship’s having capitulated, and that we are unfortunately too late to relieve him; which being the only object of the expedition, the admiral has determined upon returning with his fleet to Sandy Hook.
I beg leave to mention to your lordship, that the army is under the greatest obligations to the admirals, the captains, and the officers of the king’s ships, for the cheerfulness with which they submitted to many and great inconveniences for our accommodation on this service.”
The Dispatches from admiral Graves were to the same effect as the above from Sir H. Clinton.
The terms of capitulation have not yet officially been received.
PRELIMINARIES OF EUROPEAN PEACE (1783).
Source.—Gentleman’s Magazine. Vol. liii., p. 91.
Substance of the preliminary articles of peace between Great Britain and France, Spain, and the United States of America.
Between Great Britain and France.
Peace to take place in all parts of the world as soon as the preliminaries are ratified. Newfoundland to remain to England as before the war; and, to prevent disputes about boundaries, the French fishery shall commence from Cape St. John on the eastern side, and, going round by the north, shall have for its boundary Cape Ray on the western side.
The islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon to be ceded to the French, with liberty to fish in the Gulph of St. Laurence.
The French to have St. Lucia and Tobago.
The English to have Granada and the Grenadines, St. Vincent’s, Dominica, St. Kitt’s, Nevis, and Montserrat; the subjects of the French King that choose to leave these islands, to be allowed 18 months to settle their affairs and dispose of their effects.
In Africa, the river Senegal and its forts to be ceded to France, and the island of Goree to be restored.
Fort St. James and Gambia to remain to England. The gum trade to remain as before the war.
All the establishments formerly belonging to the French in India, to be put on the same footing as before the war, and the freedom of trade on the coasts of Orixa, Coromandel, and Malabar, to be free to the French either as private traders, or as a company.
Pondicherry, Kerical to be restored to the French with the districts of Valanour and Bahour, and the four contiguous Magans, Mahé, and the Comptoir at Surat, to the French.
The allies of France and England in India, to be invited to accede to the present pacification, and four months allowed them to make their decision. In case of refusal no assistance to be given the allies on either side.
Great Britain renounces every claim whatsoever relative to Dunkirk.
Commissioners to be appointed to agree upon new arrangements of trade on the footing of reciprocity and mutual convenience.
All conquests on either side not included in those articles to be restored.
The rest of the treaty between France and England respects the time when the cessions are to be made, the prisoners released, the captures to cease, and the treaty ratified, which is fixed for one month or sooner, if it may be.
Between Great Britain and Spain.
Minorca to be ceded to Spain, and East and West Florida.
The English to have liberty to cut and carry away logwood, in a district that shall be allotted them.
Spain to restore to Great Britain the islands of Providence, and the Bahamas without exception.
All other conquests of what kind soever to be mutually restored; and all other treaties not herein mentioned to be in full force as heretofore.
The other part of the treaty exactly the same with France.
Between Great Britain and the United States of America.
His Britannic Majesty acknowledges the United States to be free, sovereign, and independent States, treats with them as such, and relinquishes all claim whatever to the lands and territories included within certain boundaries, which boundaries shall be described and delineated in a future Magazine.
The people of the United States shall continue to enjoy their fishery, in as ample a manner, as heretofore, on the coasts wherever British fishermen use; but not to dry their fish where settlements are actually made, or may hereafter be made, without previous agreement.
That creditors on either side shall meet with no lawful impediments, to recover their debts heretofore contracted.
That Congress shall earnestly recommend to their respective legislatures, to provide for the restitution of all estates, rights and properties belonging to real British subjects, or such as were resident in districts in the possession of his Majesty’s arms, and who have not borne arms against the United States. And that persons of any other description shall have free liberty to remain in any part of any of the Thirteen United States for the term of twelve months unmolested in their endeavours for the recovery of their estates, &c. And that Congress shall recommend to the several States a revision of all acts regarding the premises, and to render the said laws consistent, not only with justice and equity, but with that spirit of reconciliation which, on the return of the blessings of peace, should universally prevail; so that the estates of persons of the above description may have their said estates restored, they refunding for the same the bona fide purchase money to the present possessors; nor shall persons having any interest in such confiscated lands, either by debts, marriage settlements, or otherwise, meet with any lawful impediment in the prosecution for the same.
That there shall be no farther confiscations made, nor prosecutions commenced against any persons for or on account of the part they may have taken in the present war.
That there shall be a perpetual peace between the contracting parties, and all hostilities both by sea and land shall forthwith cease; that the troops of his Britannic Majesty shall be immediately withdrawn, and that all American artillery shall remain in the forts and places that shall be evacuated.
The navigation of the Mississippi, from its source to the Ocean, to be free to the subjects of both States.
A VIOLENT ELECTION CONTEST (1784).
Source.—Cowper’s Letters. Thomas Wright. London: Hodder and Stoughton. 1904. Vol. ii., pp. 194-197.
To Rev. John Newton, April 26, 1784.
... The candidates for this county have set an example of economy, which other candidates would do well to follow having come to an agreement on both sides to defray the expenses of their voters, but to open no houses for the entertainment of the rabble; a reform, however, which the rabble did not at all approve of, and testified their dislike of it by a riot. A stage was built, from which the orators had designed to harangue the electors. This became the first victim of their fury. Having very little curiosity to hear what gentlemen could say who would give them nothing better than words, they broke it in pieces, and threw the fragments upon the hustings. The sheriff, the members, the lawyers, the voters, were instantly put to flight. They rallied, but were again routed by a second assault, like the former. They then proceeded to break the windows of the inn to which they had fled; and a fear prevailing that at night they would fire the town, a proposal was made by the freeholders to face about and endeavour to secure them. At that instant a rioter, dressed in a merry-andrew’s jacket, stepped forward, and challenged the best man among them. Olney sent the hero to the field, who made him repent of his presumption. Mr. Ashburner was he. Seizing him by the throat, he shook him,—he threw him to the earth, he made the hollowness of his skull resound by the application of his fists, and dragged him into custody without the least damage to his person. Animated by this example, the other freeholders followed it: and in five minutes twenty-eight out of thirty ragamuffins were safely lodged in gaol....
THE COUNTRY POST (1785).
Source.—William Cowper, The Task. Book iv.
Hark! ’tis the twanging horn! O’er yonder bridge,
That with its wearisome but needful length
Bestrides the wintry flood, in which the moon
Sees her unwrinkled face reflected bright,
He comes, the herald of a noisy world,
With spattered boots, strapped waist, and frozen locks,
News from all nations lumbering at his back.
True to his charge, the close-packed load behind,
Yet careless what he brings, his one concern
Is to conduct it to the destined inn,
And having dropped the expected bag—pass on.
He whistles as he goes, light-hearted wretch,
Cold and yet cheerful: messenger of grief
Perhaps to thousands, and of joy to some,
To him indifferent whether grief or joy.
Houses in ashes, and the fall of stocks,
Births, deaths, and marriages, epistles wet
With tears that trickled down the writer’s cheeks
Fast as the periods from his fluent quill,
Or charged with amorous sighs of absent swains,
Or nymphs responsive, equally affect
His horse and him, unconscious of them all.
But oh the important budget! ushered in
With such heart-shaking music, who can say
What are its tidings? have our troops awaked?
Or do they still, as if with opium drugged,
Snore to the murmurs of the Atlantic wave?
Is India free? and does she wear her plumed
And jewelled turban with a smile of peace,
Or do we grind her still? The grand debate,
The popular harangue, the tart reply,
The logic, and the wisdom, and the wit,
And the loud laugh—I long to know them all;
I burn to set the imprisoned wranglers free,
And give them voice and utterance once again.
HIS MAJESTY’S SPEECH (1787).
Source.—Annual Register. Vol. xxix., pp. 268 et seq. of State Papers.
His Majesty’s most gracious Speech to both Houses of Parliament, on the opening of the fourth Session of the sixteenth Parliament of Great Britain, on Tuesday the 23d of January, 1787.